LATIMES.COM/CALENDAR WEDNESDAY, JANUARY11, 2017 E3
latimes.com/culturemonster
CULTURE MONSTER
THEATER
“Our GreatTchaik ovsky”
San Diego Repertory
Theatre
Opens 8 p.m. Thursday
Through Feb.12
$20-$99THEATER
“Toruk – The First Flight”
Cirque du Soleil
Forum, Inglewood
7:30 p.m. Thu.-Fri.,4 and 8
p.m. Sat.,1 and 5 p.m. Sun.
$34-$ 155THEATER
“13 Things About
Ed Carpolotti”
Broad Stage, SantaMonica
Opens8 p.m.Wednesday
Through Jan. 29
$45MUSIC
“Mehta& Shankar”
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Walt Disney Concert Hall
8p.m. Fri.-Sat.,
2p.m. Sun.
$20-$ 190MUSIC
“Matthew Morrison”
Broad Stage,
SantaMonica
7:30 p.m.
Saturday
$75-$1155 DAYS
OUT
Highlights of theweek
ahead in arts, music and
performanceIspent much of “The Li-
on,”singer-songwriter Ben-
jamin Scheuer’s one-man
musical at the Geffen Play-
house, inwardly commiser-
ating with mytwentysome-
thing self. She hung out in so
manycoffeeshopsall those
years ago, strung out on caf-
fein eandpoetryslams,wait-
ing in vain for someoneex-
actly like Scheuerto walk in
with hisguitar.
Scheuer plays thisguitar
—actually six of them
throughout his show, with
differenttunings for differ-
ent moods— as if he in-
ventedthe inst rument: fear-
lessly, effortlessly. Also, not
only does he have the looks
of a rock star,with his thick,
dirty-blond hair, dreamy
half-smileanddebonairblue
suit, but hecomesacross as
devastatingly soulful.
In songs and anecdotes
that focus on hiscompli-
catedrelationship with his
family, he tells a stor y of suf-
fering,regret, despair and
hope in a conversational
tone witha playful touch.
His style and offbeat, intelli-
gent lyrics have beencom-
paredto Paul Simon’s.
He also includes a bi tter-
sweet love stor y about a girl-
friend named Julia who
found his old acousticguitar
underhisbedandaskedhim
to write a song for her. At the
time, Scheuer had forsworn
the acousticguitar for per-
sonal reasons and was
playing only electricguitar
(skillfully, as he demon-
strates) in public— but he
complied out of love. The re-
sultingsong,“Laugh,”which
he triumphantly performed
live at theNew York club
CBGB, helped himto redis-
cove r his acoustic soul.
Scheuer apparentlyde-
veloped “The Lion” by per-
forming in Greenwich Vil-
lage cafes, and although the
show is billed asa musical,
Sean Daniels’ intimate di-
rectionand Neil Patel’s sim-
ple setdesi gn evoke those
origins. It’s a continuous
surprise— albeit a pleasant
one — not to be distracted
mid-chordby thegrinding of
beansor the hissof a milk
frother.
What elevates“The Lion”
above typical coffee-house
performances— beyond the
theater setting — is i ts
craftsmanship, both in the
songwriting and in theexpe-
rience asa whole. The per-
formance is only about 70
minutes and is deceptively
straightforward. But the
vibe of casual, unrehearsed
immediacymasksthenarra-
tive complexity of a novel or
an opera, along with layered
themes that reverberate
musically andemotionally.
The Geffen engagement
is the last stop ona two-year
“Lion” tour and the last
time, Scheuer says, he will
perform the piece live.[email protected]THEATERREVIEW
‘Lion’ purrs in
hope, regrets
ByMargaret Gray
Center Theatre Group’s
tributeto Gordon Davidson
on Monday night at the Ah-
mansonreminded us of the
gentleness of this theatergi-
ant.
“Zoot Suit” author Luis
Valdezgavearousingspeech
in which he placed thework
ofGordon,whodiedOct.2at
83, at the center of the
American project.
Public Theater artistic
director Oskar Eustis spoke
eloquently of how Gordon
was histruementor, mod-
eling not only purposeful,
politicallyconscious leader-
ship but humaneness and
sensitivity in hiseveryday
dealings.
Gordon’s daughter,
Rachel, spoke of the privi-
lege andoccasional pain of
sharingherdadwiththerest
of Los Angelesand the wider
theater community. Gor-
don’s wife, Judi, hoarse with
emotion, crackedeverybody
up bysaying had sheknown
how important Gordonwas
she would have treated him
better.
All of the tributes cap-
tured that aspect ofGordon
Ican stilleffortlesslyconjure
—his kindness. Hegenu-
inely liked people. This is a
rarertrait than we imagine.
Community charged Gor-
don’s soul.
Many contemplated how
Gordonwould have reacted
to what’s going on right now
in American politics. There
was aconsensus that he
would have rolled up his
sleeves and searched for and
developed new workthat
wouldspeakto theurgentis-
sues of the day. And then
he’d talkto audience mem-
bersafterabouttheirexperi-
ences,wantingto hear all
perspectives on what they
had just witnessed.
Thegreatestway of hon-
oring Gordon Davidson is
for theater leaders, in L.A.
and beyond,to lead with the
same noble intention and
unswervingcommitment.charles.mcnulty
@latimes.com
Twitter: @charlesmcnultyTRIBUTE
Humane heart
of theater in L.A.
CHARLES McNULTY
THEATERCRITIC
Style iscontent in the big, loose-
limbed yet engaging exhibition
“Tastemakers & Earthshakers:
Notes From Los AngelesYouth Cul-
ture, 1943-2016.” A rough sketch
rather thana fullyfinished picture, it
nonethelesstouches many provoca-
tive bases.
The show is at the Vincent Price
Art Museum at East Los Angeles
College.Like the city itself, it’s a
sprawl. More than 40 artists have
contributed paintings, sculptures,
photographs and installations. In
addition, there are street fashions,
family snapshots and ephemera lift-
ed from mass media— newspaper
clippings, magazines, pop music,
television clips, etc.
Style, however, is not being pre-
sented as just any form ofcommer-
cial content. Instead, museum direc-
tor PilarTompkins Rivas and hercu-
ratorial team smartly pick and
chooseto locate stylewithin a specif-
icnarrative—astor yofsocialjustice.
ThinkJohn Waters’ “Hairspray,”
albeit starting out 20years earlier
and happening in L.A., not Balti-
more.
Or think playwright LuisValdez’s
“ZootSuit.” The museum’s atmos-
pheric show doesn’t tracka formal
history, but it begins in1943 fora co-
gent reason: Thatwas the year of the
Zoot Suit riots.
For several weeks in June, Mexi-
can American kids decked out in
jazz-erafinery wereassaulted by ma-
rauding white soldiers serving in a
segregate d military and massed in
Southern California as a bulwark
against thewarin the Pacifictheater.
The kidsretaliated.Authorities let
the conflict rage.
“The zoot suit has become a
badge of hoodlumism,” insisted one
reckless city councilman. In truth,
the style was a radicalsartorial em-
blem of distinctive cultural identity.
Pachuco style, as it is also known,
beganin El Paso, elaborating on Afri-
can American fashion. It quickly
spread along the borderand finally
blew up into a full-fledged phenome-
non in L.A., emergent popculture
capital of America. Broadshoulders,
wide shirt collars,even wider lapels,cinchedwasp waists, balloon pants
—the zoot suitexaggeratesa volup-
tuous hourglassfigure. Buttoned up
but sexy,the look is muscularon men
and curvaceous onwomen.
The smashing zoot suitfinery on
display in theexhibition’s first room
assertstwo early-1940s culturalreali-
ties.
First, the nearly unisex uniformof
asuit — jacket, shirt and pants for
him; jacket, shirt and skirt for her —
dem onstratesa degree of sexualflu-
idi ty operating inside an otherwise
masculine-dominated social fabric.
And second, the marvelous peacock
drama inherent in these brash fash-
ionsrepresentsa resolute refusalto
disappear into thewoodwork. To
heck withexpectations for public in-
visibility withinasegregationist soci-
ety.
Mexican American youth style
was clashing with norms of estab-
lished white privilege.No wonderthe
fancy fashionwas picked up byJapa-
nese American kidstoo, as seen in a
documentary photographtaken at
the Tule Lake internment camp in
Northern California.
These sorts ofculturalcollisions
recu r in “Tastemakers & Earthshak-
ers,”albeitinavarietyofforms.Some
are historical, like the zoot suitdis-
play, and somecuratorial.
RicardoValverde’s hetero-erotic
photographs of enticingyoung Chi-
canowomeninthe1970s,forexample,
are juxtaposed with Dino Dinco’s ho-
moerotic photographs of enticing
young Chicano men taken in 2001.
They speakto one another across
time and social space.
Alsoin2001, Alex Donismadease-
ries of sleek paintings on clear acrylic
sheets in which brown gangbangers
are showngrappling with uniformedpolicemenagainstblank,whiteback-
grounds.Whether Donis’ incongru-
ous duos are fighting each other in
the street or dancing toge ther rap-
turously ata gay club dependson
your angle of vision. Theworksadd a
sharptwist of layered socialconflict
to Robert Longo’s well-known 1979
drawings ofchic downtown Manhat-
tanites, fashionably gyrating in
empty space.
The dynamic action in Salomón
Huerta’s shrewd canvas “Three
Horsemen,” painted in the immedi-
ate aftermath of the1992 L.A. riots,
derivesfrom an imperial Baroque
hunting picture by Peter Paul
Rubens. Huerta switched out
Rubens’mountedArabnoblemenfor
Chicanos on horseback, and here-
placed Rubens’exotic hippopota-
mus, target of the hunt, with a
squealing white pig.
Point taken.The antithesis of the
enigmatic portrait heads for which
the artist would become widely
known later in the decade, the forth-
right“Three Horsemen” landed on
thecover of “Decolonize,” Aztlan
Undergound’s barbed1995 album.
Otherportraitsonviewtravelona
sliding scalefrom acutely realistto
elaborately stylized.John Valadez is
at one end of that wide spectrum,
Carolyn Castaño at theother and
PatssiValdezsomewhereinbetween.
Musicplaylists,graffiti styles, vis-
ual rhymes with British pop and
punk, news clips— the show roams
far and wide and infits and starts.
The most infectious sculptural in-
stallation isJuan Capistrán’s foam-
coremodel of an ordinary domestic
bungalow, whi ch is set up inside a
makeshift tarpaulin-tent — the kind
astreet vendor might use, or a back-
yard tinkerer.
Dance music and pulsing party
lightsemanatefromCapistrán’s cozy
bungalow — amodest suburban
home that, on closer inspection, has
been tra nsformed into a giant boom
box, itsroof an exuberant plane of vi-
brating speakers. Irresistible, the
2010 sculpture is titled“This Machine
KillsFascists,orLaborSetsYouFree
(Love Is theMessage).”A better,
timelier expression of the exhib-
ition’s spirit is difficultto imagine.[email protected]
Twitter: @KnightLATIS THEPAIRin
Alex Donis’ “Officer
Moreno andJoker”
fighting or dancing?
That depends on
your angle of vision.VPAMAnexhibition at East L.A. College places style
in a specific narrative — a story ofsocial justice
‘The Lion’
Where:Audrey Skirball
Kenis Theater at the Geffen
Playhouse, 10886Le Conte
Ave., Los Angeles
When:8 p.m. Tuesdays
throughFridays, 3 and 8
p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m.
Sundays; endsFeb. 19
Tickets:$60-$82
Info:(310) 208-5454,
http://www.geffenplayhouse.com
Running time:1 hour,
10 minutesSINGER-SONGWRITERBenjamin Scheuer per-
forms his one-manmusical theater piece “The Lion.”
Christie GoodwinVincentPrice
ArtMuseum
Where:East Los Angeles College,
1301 Avenida Cesar Chavez,
Monterey Park
When:ThroughFeb. 25. Closed
Sunday and Monday.
Info:(323)265-8841,www.v incent
priceartmuseum.orgCHRISTOPHER KNIGHT
ART CRITICART REVIEWYo ung looks